The lunch break ended, and the afternoon work began.
However, while those who had taken on the Gigant Turtle's dissection were one thing, the guards assigned to fight off monsters drawn by the scent of blood couldn't all take their breaks at once. They had to rotate their meals.
Rei, Set, Vihera, and Byune ate the food stored inside the Misty Ring... and also distributed a cup of freshly made hot vegetable soup to each of the workers handling the dissection.
Though no snow was falling, the temperature was near freezing. Naturally, those who received the soup were delighted.
Thanks to that, the Gigant Turtle's dissection was progressing more smoothly than it had that morning—which meant the cost was a necessary expense.
"So? What are you going to do now, Rei? Are you going to stay here a little longer and observe? Or are you heading back to Gilm? You mentioned you were going to do a little investigating into the Cobolt situation."
"Yeah. It's about time I headed back. I'll swing by the Expansion Construction site where the Cobolts are attacking first and see if I can find any clues."
"Hmm... but there's no guarantee you'll find any clues, you know? Plenty of people have already tried to find the reason for the Cobolt attacks, running all over the place, but they never found anything in the end."
Rei understood Vihera's point, but this time he had a trump card in Set.
There was a very real possibility that Set might be able to find something that humans—even beastmen and elves with senses far sharper than Rei's—could not.
Following Rei's gaze, one could see Set playing with Byune, perhaps because there were no more monsters to fight. That alone was enough for Vihera to understand that Rei was planning to rely on Set to investigate the Cobolt situation.
"I see. Set, huh."
"...You figured that out quick."
"Anyone could tell, just by following your gaze."
Told that, Rei recalled his own actions, felt a twinge of embarrassment, and opened his mouth as if to cover it up.
"Anyway, I'm heading to the Expansion Construction site with Set... what about you, Vihera? Want to come along?"
Vihera thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"I'll pass. At the end of the day, the only monsters to fight there are Cobolts, right?"
For Vihera, she would gladly fight strong monsters of her own accord, but monsters at the Cobolt's level weren't even worth the effort.
If High-ranking Species or Rare Species were confirmed to be there, she might have been a little interested... but since no such monsters had been found from the time the Cobolt attacks began up to now, Vihera had no interest in going.
"Besides, Byune seems to be really enjoying fighting Cobolts here."
"Ah, I see."
That was probably the stronger reason.
For Rei as well, this matter was ultimately something of a hobby, or rather a half-hearted attempt at a long shot, so he had no intention of dragging Vihera along against her will.
If there had been some decisive evidence or certainty, it would have been a different story.
"Hey, got a second?"
Having finished his conversation with Vihera, Rei called out to a Guild Staff Member standing a short distance away—the person in charge of overseeing the Gigant Turtle's dissection.
Having spoken with Rei numerous times before, the man showed no particular nervousness at Rei's call and simply approached.
"What is it? Did something happen?"
"Yeah. I'm going to be leaving here soon, but should I come back around evening?"
Since the Gigant Turtle's dissection would naturally not be finished in a single day, it needed to be stored inside the Misty Ring once night fell.
If it were a smaller monster, they could have just left it in a warehouse in town, and since it was winter, there would have been no problem... but with a monster of this size, they couldn't exactly disassemble it in the middle of town.
"Right. Please do. However, it would be helpful if you could come back a little early. Since today is the first day and there are many people who aren't used to the work yet, we'd like to wrap up a bit early."
"Got it. I'll head back a little early, then."
"Thank you very much. So... just out of curiosity, where are you heading, Rei-san?"
"Just heading to the Expansion Construction site for a bit."
From those words, the Guild Staff Member seemed to understand what Rei was planning to do.
He smiled and spoke.
"I hope you find a Magic Item."
That was undoubtedly the Guild Staff Member's honest feeling.
It hadn't been confirmed that the Cobolt situation was caused by a Magic Item, and the Guild Staff Member had probably expected otherwise.
Even so, there was a possibility—a real, if slight, possibility—that some kind of Magic Item was the cause.
Moreover, since Rei was going to use Set's abilities to investigate the Cobolt situation, there was a good chance he might find some kind of clue.
If this were an ordinary adventurer, just someone off the street, the Guild Staff Member wouldn't have gotten his hopes up so much.
But standing before him was Rei.
He was someone who had accomplished unbelievable feats time and time again.
One of those achievements was the Gigant Turtle that so many people were currently dissecting.
A being capable of defeating such a massive monster was surely not common in Gilm... no, even looking across the entire world of Elgin, including the Kingdom of Mireana and its neighboring countries.
Because it was Rei who had achieved that, there was a chance—a real, if slight, chance—that he might be able to find some clue regarding the Cobolt situation.
It was, in a sense, only natural that the Guild Staff Member would think that way.
Unaware that he was being held in such high expectation, Rei nodded to the Guild Staff Member and then called out to Set.
"Set! We're heading back to Gilm for now!"
"Gruu!"
Responding to Rei's call with a cry that said "Got it!", Set approached Rei's side.
Several of the people working on the Gigant Turtle's dissection were captivated by Set's appearance.
As if they wanted to pet him.
If this were anywhere other than Gilm, there would probably be more people who felt fear at Set's presence... but this was Gilm.
Some of those doing the dissection work were not residents of Gilm but people who had come for the Expansion Construction work, so not all of them felt affection toward Set.
Even as various gazes were directed at him, Rei and Set left the area and headed for Gilm.
"Hey, over there! It went that way!"
"Yeah, I know. Tch, for something that moves almost purely on instinct, it makes some damn clever moves sometimes!"
Along with those words, a sharply thrust spear pierced through a Cobolt's neck.
The adventurer briefly grimaced because he had aimed for the body, but it had actually struck the neck.
Up until autumn, he would have undoubtedly been able to pierce the body.
The reason his aim slipped and pierced the neck instead was partly because the Cobolt on the ground was somewhat stronger and faster than the others... but the bigger reason was that his body had grown sluggish from living through the winter.
He himself understood that, which was why he grimaced.
But right now, he didn't have the luxury of thinking about such things.
There were still quite a few Cobolts that had infiltrated the area.
Normally, they would have been able to fight a little more easily, but because there were fewer Cobolts today, a significant number of adventurers had given up on Cobolt subjugation and switched to the Gigant Turtle's dissection.
Thanks to that, the balance between Cobolts and adventurers had evened out, but that also meant the fighting here was business as usual.
"Ah... maybe I should have gone to the Gigant Turtle's dissection instead?"
A nearby adventurer muttered this while looking at the others fighting Cobolts around them.
Considering their current situation, they couldn't help but feel that dealing with Cobolts endlessly was a hassle.
Of course, their funds for surviving the winter had already dwindled considerably at this point, and since they had come here judging that Cobolt subjugation was the best way to earn money, complaining was meaningless.
But... at that exact moment, Rei riding on Set arrived at the scene, and that changed things entirely.
"Is that so? If you're willing to come help with the dissection, it would help me out a lot. The more hands, the better. Though, given the size of the Gigant Turtle, I can't imagine the dissection will be finished this winter."
"Eh?"
At the voice that rang out abruptly, those within earshot who weren't engaged in combat with the Cobolts all voiced their surprise in unison.
Why on earth was a person like this in a place like this?
...Even those who had never seen Rei's face directly could easily understand who it was when they saw an adventurer accompanied by a griffon. They couldn't help but understand.
"Crimson Rei!? Wait, why is someone that famous here!? This is a place with only Cobolts... I mean, a place where nothing but Cobolts show up!"
The adventurer who had just said he should have gone to the Gigant Turtle's dissection shouted in a panic.
Perhaps because that adventurer's question was shared by the others as well, several of them nodded repeatedly in agreement with his words.
Watching those adventurers, Rei explained the reason he had come here, gesturing for them not to worry about it.
"The endless Cobolt attacks, regardless of whether it's morning, noon, or night, are clearly abnormal. In other words, I figured there must be some reason for it. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to look into what that reason might be."
In reality, he had come here because he suspected there might be a Magic Item behind it, but he didn't say that much.
If he did, there was a chance everyone present would become interested in the Magic Item and start searching for it.
It wasn't as if Rei was certain there was a Magic Item here; it was also true that part of this was just to pass the time.
Given that, if he carelessly mentioned a Magic Item, focused everyone's attention on it... and as a result, someone got injured or killed, it would leave a bad taste in his mouth.
"So, Set and I are going to look into why the Cobolts are gathering here, but you guys just focus on taking down the Cobolts without worrying about us. We won't get in your way."
While stroking Set, Rei watched the adventurers fighting the Cobolts, unclear whether they had noticed him or not.
The Cobolts fighting the adventurers showed no sign whatsoever of fleeing the area, despite Set—despite a griffon being right there.
(Same as the Cobolts that came to the Gigant Turtle's location, huh. ...Over there, the scent of the Gigant Turtle's blood was drifting thickly, so I thought maybe they just hadn't noticed Set's presence because their attention was focused on that.)
In fact, besides Cobolts, several other monsters, including Orcs, had been drawn by the scent of the Gigant Turtle's blood, and many of them had not noticed Set's presence.
...To be precise, among the monsters that came drawn by the scent of blood, those that were able to notice Set's presence had probably fled immediately and never made it to the dissection site.
But there was nothing in particular around here that would attract monsters.
If he had to name something, there was the possibility that the scent of blood had rubbed off on Rei and Set from watching the Gigant Turtle's dissection, but the Cobolts in his line of sight showed no sign of being drawn by the scent of blood and heading toward them.
Thinking about it that way, the Cobolts either didn't notice Set's presence at all, or perhaps couldn't even notice it.
(In the case of High-ranking Species or Rare Species, they definitely wouldn't fail to notice Set's presence... I think. If that's the case, then what I can think of is... the possibility of a Magic Item has gotten stronger, hasn't it.)
Could it be? Was it possible?
While Rei was thinking along those lines, Set purred and rubbed his face against Rei.
Stroking Set's head, Rei thought about how he would search for the Magic Item that might be hidden in this place.